➢ “The 2.39:1/1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is expectedly competent. This digitally shot film offers strong fine-object detail and texture. Some wider shots are slightly soft, but the film looks good in motion. Colours are nicely saturated and black levels are generally strong, save a couple of shots in which they push toward purple. I noticed minor aliasing and some digital noise, which is not unexpected in low-light scenes with digital photography. Skin tones are accurate, highlights never bloom and I noticed no digital noise reduction.” — DVD Talk.

➢ “Overall sharpness remained good. A smattering of wider elements could seem a little soft, but those didn’t create real distractions. Instead, the movie tended to be accurate and concise. I noticed no shimmering or jaggies, and the film lacked edge haloes or source flaws. The palette opted for a mix of the usual orange and teal. Within stylistic choices, the hues looked fine. Blacks were deep and dense, while low-light shots depicted appropriate clarity.” — DVD Movie Guide.

➢ “Lighting schemes are effectively used in this film to help set the tone/setting based upon the mood of the scene and characters within it. The chroma range isn’t diverse but hues can vary from being sullen and inanimate to warm and inviting. Skin tones are appropriately bland with natural highlights and descriptive variation. Images onscreen are exquisitely detailed and sharp with superb depth of field and visible texture during wide angle shots. Contrast is spot on and blacks are deep with revealing delineation.” — AVS Forum.

● Also new are Cry Freedom (“the HD transfer shows off good colours, depth, and detail throughout, and has been cleaned leaving little damage such as specs and dust”), Walkabout (“the image here is very strong“*), The Medallion and Hideaway.

* Walkabout’s transfer appears to be from the same source as the Criterion edition’s but the only extra it shares is the director’s commentary.

➢ “The 4K Blu-ray is the closest by far this film has looked to when I saw it at the cinema. Except that to some extent it looks even better – thanks to HDR. Universal/Spielberg haven’t gone overboard with their expansion of the film’s luminance range. Highlights – most notably reflections in eyes and on metal, medals, glasses and so on – look stronger, and black levels plunge a little deeper. There’s greater starkness to the photography, too, that enhances rather than overstates the cinematography and often exquisite lighting.” — Forbes.

➢ “Schindler’s List may be the first film shot in black and white to be released on 4K UHD Blu-ray, and just may make a good argument for more classic black and white films to be released in the format … The high level of contrast adds to the heightened detail, where some backgrounds during daytime scenes on the Blu-ray appeared slightly washed out yet on the UHD disc one can easily make out the textures in the plastered walls … In comparing the UHD to the Blu-ray, I also found the Blu-ray to appear as if it had a very subtle sepia tone, while the UHD was more silver in appearance.” — Home Theater Forum.

➢ “Schindler’s List serves as a prime example of what the HDR format is truly capable of when giving Hollywood classics the 4K makeover. Reportedly, the original 35mm camera negatives were remastered and restored for a brand-new 4K digital intermediate, which was supervised and approved by Steven Spielberg. Compared to its 2013 Blu-ray release, this freshly-minted transfer reveals a bit more detailing, making every grain in the wood, stretch of barbwire and bolts in the press machines crystal-clear.” — High-Def Digest.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

➢ “Presented in its approximate original aspect ratio of 2.40:1, The Crimes of Grindelwald looks extremely impressive in 4K. This is a finely textured and razor-sharp 2160p transfer that easily outpaces the already great Blu-ray transfer in almost every department and showcases a tremendous amount of depth, detail, and colour.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald debuts on the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray format in native 4K, being shot at 6.5K and finished with a 4K DI. This is a very complimentary image to the first film. The bright skies and settings all match aesthetics quite pleasingly. The crisp image features a terrific array of refined color and detail on display.” — WhySoBlu.

➢ “I found that this Ultra HD rendering makes the most of its elements. The 1080p transfer looks terrific but this rendering takes it up a notch with a discernible increase in detail, and emboldened highlights, both light and dark … Comparing the DV and HDR-10 presentations for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, I found the HDR renderings to be similar.” — AVS Forum.

Overlord

➢ “Overlord is a heavily saturated piece (to give it that period style) but this 4K presentation still enjoys a nominal, although largely unnoticed uptick in detail, only really apparent in shadow detail (thank you Dolby Vision) or some of the textures in the more striking tones but this only further emphasises the fact that it’s not really a resolution upgrade you’re experiencing here, it’s WCG, HDR and Dolby Vision working their magic to bring the picture to life.” — AVForums.

➢ “The horror combat flick targets Blu-ray with an exceptional 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode that boasts outstanding, pitch-perfect contrast from beginning to end. Visibility into the far distance is often extraordinary … The film debuts on Blu-ray with the same fantastic and wonderfully engrossing reference-quality Dolby Atmos soundtrack as its Ultra HD counterpart.” — High-Def Digest.

➢ “Overlord was shot digitally which doesn’t quite find the vintage, grainy, filmic look that might have better enhanced the movie’s tone and style. It is nevertheless a pleasantly dense and highly agreeable image. Noise is present to some degree in many scenes, with much of the film playing out in lower light interiors and nighttime exteriors.” — Blu-ray.com.

● Also new are Serenity and All The Devil’s Men, re-issues of Peggy Sue Got Married, U-Turn and Fright Night, Cliff Richard: 60th Anniversary Concert, Adventure Time – The Complete Tenth Season and the anime titles:

Fate/stay Night: Heaven’s Feel 1. Presage Flower

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: The Complete Series

Bungo Stray Dogs – The Complete Second Season

Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions ~ Heart Throb – The Complete Second Season

➢ “It’s almost depressing in a way that the video side of things on this release is so spectacular, since all of the impressive 4K visuals are in support of such an underwhelming property. Be that as it may, the digitally captured imagery (reportedly at a source resolution of 8K, finished at a 4K DI) looks stupendous in this version, with a couple of minor exceptions.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “It sure looks good. And that’s in HDR10 for me. Dolby Vision and HDR+ encodes are on the disc as well. The two main action sequences present opportunities for tons of flying debris and arrows whizzing through the environments causing destruction. Colours pop and dark sequences are nicely contrasted with deep inky shadows versus torch lit main subjects. It’s sharp sharp sharp, with visible pores and clothing patterns in closeups.” — Home Theater Forum.

➢ “Though not a killer presentation, Robin Hood usually looked strong. Sharpness worked fine most of the time. Some interiors looked a bit soft, but those remained infrequent, so the majority of the film was accurate and well-defined. I saw no signs of jaggies or moiré effects, and the film lacked edge haloes or print flaws.” — DVD Movie Guide.

Creed II

➢ “This is an excellent Ultra HD presentation … With a discernible increase in detail and emboldened chromatic highlights the UHD image appears noticeably sharp, and vivid. Primary colours such as red, and blue, are pleasingly rich, while whites and grays appear gradational. Fleshtones are wonderfully lifelike, and consistent throughout the presentation.” — AVS Forum.

➢ “Warner’s 2.40:1 HEVC 4K image look stunning and when compared to its Blu-ray counterpart, makes it a no-brainer to go for the 4K version. Darkness prevails in a majority of the scenes … and takes advantage of the increased resolution and HDR that the 4K image offers. Detail, coloors and contrast all looked great.” — Blu-ray Authority.

➢ “This is the most let-down I’ve been about a 4K Blu-ray image in quite a while. Being new and from Disney I expected it to look great but the image here is as flat and lifeless as many of the toys. Compared to good HDR content nothing pops off the screen and it feels like an SDR image. There isn’t the sharpness and fine detail present in better 4K titles, while elements like gold lack the sparkle.” — Reference Home Theater.

➢ “The 2160p UHD release maintains a tight, fine, and consistent grain structure that positively accentuates the picture, which boasts very impressive fine detail and broad-scope clarity. The companion 1080p Blu-ray handled the content just fine, but Disney’s higher resolution UHD allows for more finesse, a greater feel for the world and the small details within it.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “The 4K version of the movie is a feast for the eyes … Although the movie is not encoded with Dolby Vision, the HDR boost it gives everything a deeper, more textured look over the Blu-ray counterpart (although the Blu-ray looks great for a 1080p presentation).” — High-Def Digest.

The Little Mermaid

➢ “Colours were already one of the more admirable aspects of the previous Blu-ray, and the animated classic benefits from its jump to the HDR10 format. The difference may be nuanced and understated, but primaries nonetheless appear a bit fuller and slightly richer with reds and greens looking particularly more energetic and animated … This a beautiful upgrade over its HD SDR counterpart and the best the Disney film has ever looked on home video.” — High-Def Digest.

➢ “In 2013 this film underwent a restorative process and the results as translated in Ultra HD are impressive. Colours shine brilliantly with pleasing saturation and striking blues that look absolutely beautiful. The original film elements don’t have the highly polished gloss of today’s digitally enhanced animated films which is to be expected but, this presentation makes the most of them. On several occasions I found myself marveling at just how good this 30-year-old animated feature looks.” — AVS Forum.

Willow

➢ “This is a very handsome and agreeably filmic image. Detail is almost uniformly terrific throughout, particularly various examples of attire that reveal fine fabric definition, including various flaws and stitches, while faces are complex, hairs are well defined at the individual strand level, and natural vegetation and various example of terrain look great. There are a few photographic soft edges and several shots that appear filtered to some degree.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “The 1080p AVC-encoded transfer retains the film’s original theatrical aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1. Colours are solid and natural, perhaps not as vivid as a more modern film that was shot digitally (Willow was shot on 35mm film, way before the days of digital), but the image also does not appear to be overly processed using digital tools to make it appear more modern. On the whole, detail is superb.” — Home Theater Forum.

➢ “Widows is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with a 2160p transfer in 2.39:1. Shot on film and finished at a 4K DI (according to the IMDb), this is a consistently impressive looking upgrade in both detail levels and especially palette saturation courtesy of HDR … The palette isn’t necessarily changed all that much in this version, but it’s noticeably more saturated and vivid … Like the Blu-ray rendering, the darkened highlights in low-lit environs, can be hit or miss but it most respects, have appreciable dimension and resolvable detail.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “Widows is a contemporary film that has a specific visual aesthetic which comes through quite naturally in this Ultra HD rendering. It’s a stylish visual film, that adheres to sepia tones and colour grading, which ultimately leaves some sequences appearing less visually engaging than others … Viewing Widows in Ultra HD didn’t make for an especially compelling viewing experience, however, I found it to be a complimentary improvement over the 1080p Blu-ray presentation..” — AVS Forum.

➢ “Fox gives Widows an AVC encode to go with its 2.39:1 widescreen presentation, with the results looking exceptional … The Chicago nights are dark and inky, and black levels in the film present an excellent contrast, with explosions that bring in bright yellows and oranges. An excellent presentation, no doubt … The DTS HD-Master Audio 7.1 track also lives up to the reputation, with gunfire providing a lot of dynamic range and low-end fidelity.” — DVD Talk.

The Cloverfield Paradox

➢ “Shot on 35mm and finished with a 4K Digital Intermediate, this 1080p presentation is good, detail clarity is solid, but colours, black levels, and contrast lack in comparison to the Dolby Vision HDR stream on Netflix … Where Paramount absolutely kills it with this release is the included Dolby Atmos audio mix! Finally, without the stupid tech and device constraints Netflix initially subjected users to — at the time, Atmos was only available on Xbox and LG devices — you can fully hear and appreciate what this film has to offer in the audio department.” — High-Def Digest.

➢ “The picture is texturally rich and extremely highly detailed, a picture-perfect, filmic presentation that boasts big-screen cinematic results … The movie is not abundantly colourful, but what’s here is very well saturated within the film’s fairly spartan color parameters. Skin tones are exquisite and black levels are perfect. No source flaws or compression artifacts are to be found. Blu-ray does not get better than this.” — Blu-ray.com.

Fear the Walking Dead: The Complete Fourth Season

➢ Includes four audio commentaries with cast and crew, providing an in-depth, personal account of how four of the episodes were made:

Ahead of Monday’s Oscars ceremony, where it’s a contender for best music score, costume design and production design, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced the April 10 release of Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns on Blu-ray and 4K-UHD.

Extras will include:

• Deleted Song— The Anthropomorphic Zoo: In this early song sequence, Mary Poppins and the children visit a very special zoo where the humans and animals trade places.

• The Practically Perfect Making of Mary Poppins Returns– Join filmmakers and cast on an amazing journey to embrace the legacy of the original film while making a fresh modern sequel.

o Introduction – Filmmakers and cast remember the first Mary Poppins movie and share the thrill of working on Mary Poppins Returns

o (Underneath the) Lovely London Sky – Discover how the team mined PL Travers’ books for a fresh perspective on a much-loved character. Plus, meet the Banks children!

o Can You Imagine That? – Be on location for Mary’s iconic entrance from the sky, and explore the movie’s original songs, inspired by the Sherman Brothers.

o Nowhere to Go But Up – Experience being on set with the legendary Dick Van Dyke and Angela Lansbury, and celebrate the joy of choosing the right balloon!

• Seeing Things From a Different Point of View: The Musical Numbers of Mary Poppins Returns – Go behind the scenes and experience the film’s production numbers from a new angle.

o Trip a Little Light Fantastic – Led by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the cast performs the film’s biggest production number, with dancing lamplighters, bicyclists and more!

o The Royal Doulton Music Hall/A Cover Is Not the Book – Find out what it takes to create two musical extravaganzas inside an animated world, highlighted by dancing animated penguins!

o Turning Turtle – Mary’s eccentric cousin, Topsy Turvy, played by Meryl Streep, has an unusual house that turns this musical number upside-down.

o Can You Imagine That? – Dive under the bubbles with the cast and crew to see how this exuberant number was created.

• Back to Cherry Tree Lane: Dick Van Dyke Returns – Dick Van Dyke, who played Bert and Mr. Dawes Sr. in the first film, returns after 54 years to Cherry Tree Lane as Mr. Dawes Jr.

• Practically Perfect Bloopers – There’s nowhere to go but up with the cast and crew in this lighthearted collection of flubs, goofs and prop fails!

• Deleted Scenes

o Leaving Topsy’s – After their visit to Cousin Topsy, Mary, Jack and the children pause to take a look back.

o Trip a Little Light Fantastic – The leeries light up the screen in this extended clip from the movie’s biggest musical production.

• Play Movie in Sing-Along Mode – Sing along with all your favorite songs as you watch the movie.

➢ “Sourced from a 4K Digital Intermediate, this 2.39:1 1080p transfer is a terrific showcase example demo disc that could only potentially be improved by an HDR 4K UHD presentation. Details are exquisite. The art direction for this film is phenomenal with every location steeped in tiny details that ooze foreboding and dread. Facial features, makeup work, locations, and set design all come through with terrific clarity.” — High-Def Digest.

➢ “The intended look of the film doesn’t lend itself to being pretty, but this disc showcases mostly to the best of the format’s ability. The film has a solid look to it and an above average depth of field. There are some good exterior shots looking very free and spacious, but the nature of this beast doesn’t lend itself to a lot of the pushback look. The sniper sequence proves one of the best. Motion is natural, cinematic and smooth with no real motion distortion issues.” — WhySoBlu.

You Were Never Really Here

➢ “Umbrella Entertainment presents the film in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio in 1080p AVC MPEG-4. Shot digitally, the picture is very crisp and well defined in both dark scenes taking place at night while reflecting neon lights, as well as in daytime scenes with fine detail see throughout. The raid scene changes to low definition black and white surveillance footage that looks obviously worse than the rest of the footage, which is fully intentional. Colours are well balanced and there are no errors in the transfer.” — Rewind.

➢ “The presentation absorbs every inch of detail in the piece, enjoying the scenery, taking in the textures and nuances of the framed images … Sure, lighting conditions limit the excellence on offer here, with some tonal choices further putting a halt on outright demo material, but it’s a very nice presentation nonetheless.” — AV Forums.

➢ “Bohemian Rhapsody is the first film I’ve reviewed that uses the HDR10+ format [which] adds scene by scene metadata to the standard HDR10 data stream that HDR10+-capable TVs can use to improve the way they render the HDR images … Throughout the film the image looks more dynamic, with slightly more profound black levels and much more pronounced brightness peaks.” — Forbes.

➢ “This 4K version offers significant and noticeable upticks in detail and fine detail levels, especially with regard to elements like the fabrics of costumes and upholstery on furniture. Fine patterns on these items have a more precise appearance, and other elements, like facial crags and skin pores, really pop in the many close-ups in the film.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “I also enjoyed the implementation of HDR. The added dimension in blacks, and shadows during the low-level scenes is immediately noticeable. There are a host of sequences where the cinematography makes use of shadows, streaming light and a mix of light/dark elements. It’s application here is used very well, drawing upon HDR’s ability to create stark contrast between the two.” — AVS Forum.

Doctor Who: The Complete Eleventh Season

➢ “This series continues the show’s generally excellent presentations in high definition, and as is discussed in some of the commentary tracks included in this set, there was attention paid to things like palette and saturation in various episodes, leading to one of the more colourful and vibrant seasons in recent memory … A well wrought DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track offers good immersion in the many effects laden sequences but also in some of the “quieter” dialogue moments, where both ambient environmental sounds and directionality come into play.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “This 2.00:1 framed video presentation offers appreciable high definition resolution that has a satisfying glossy aesthetic. Images are stable and sharp with plenty of discernible texture and revealing fine detail during close-ups. Many of the show’s sequences are shot in uneven and low lighting. Shadow delineation and depth is quite good.” — AVS Forum.

American Animals

➢ “This is a pleasing video presentation that boasts plenty of high level detail, enriching contrast, natural colours and dimensionality. Blacks are punchy and stand out when onscreen with mixed content. Visual perspective in low lighting and darkened areas is estimable.” — AVS Forum.

A Star is Born doesn’t release on Blu-ray and 4K-UHD in the US and Europe until next week, so reviews have yet to be posted online. But the 4K transfer will have a Dolby Vision option and here are the extras you can expect to see:

The Road to Stardom: Making A Star Is Born

3 Jam Sessions and Rarities: Baby What You Want Me to Do, Midnight Special, Is That Alright

4 Music Videos: Shallow, Always Remember Us This Way, Look What I Found, I’ll Never Love Again.

Bad Times at the El Royale

➢ “While the 4K version of this film is hugely enjoyable, it didn’t quite knock my socks off the way I frankly expected it to, which may indeed simply be a case of misplaced expectations … A wonderfully immersive Dolby Atmos track that admittedly may not provide a ton of midair ‘showy’ sonics, but which delivers a glut of surround activity courtesy of the many (as in many) uses of music within the film.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “On a 4K display with a 4K upscale the film looks fantastic. Oodles of image detail like rain beading on a car window against the neon lights of the hotel looks vivid as can be. Seeing characters soaked in the rain and sitting in their hotel rooms provides noticeable facial pores …Colours are natural and vivid, black levels are inky and provide a superb contrast to other image elements.” — DVD Talk.

● And overlooked from last week: Hunter Killer (“surprisingly strong looking transfer”) and Reign of the Supermen(“video and audio presentation are first-rate“); the former also is out on 4K-UHD whereas the latter was released in the higher resolution only in the US.

➢ “First Man was primarily shot on film, much of it 16mm, and finished at 2K. This upscaled UHD with Dolby Vision colour grading offers a slightly solidified, more prominently filmic presentation compared to the Blu-ray, which is excellent. The image is a little more inherently soft than some films. The UHD does not magically make any scenes sharper, per se, but it does create a finer filmic presentation, with more natural grain and slightly greater clarity to the base elements.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “Colour has been graded for high dynamic range in both HDR10 and Dolby Vision, and this really does give the film an extra bit of richness and dimensionality. Blacks are deepened and the colour palette, especially early in the film, has a warm and vibrant 1960s Kodachrome quality. The HDR also allows instrument panels and indicators to pop nicely. The image texturing overall is very nicely refined and exhibits lovely detail.” — The Digital Bits.

➢ “Presented in a widescreen ratio of 2.39:1 mastered in HD 1080p 24/fps using AVC MPEG-4 compression. The transfer accurately replicates the film’s presentation, for the most part. Cinematographer Linus Sandgren has masterfully crafted this film, from the framing, to the composition, and lighting, it looks great considering the juggling of formats (16mm, 35mm, 65mm). There where some moments of soft focus that did take me out of the film but only for a second, and I was sucked right back in again.” — Rewind.

Halloween

➢ “A chillingly excellent HEVC H.265 encode, showing a few welcomed improvements but overall looking comparable to its Blu-ray peer. Shot entirely on the Arri Alexa camera system, capable of up to 3K resolution, the upscaled transfer trots into town with slightly sharper detailing along various buildings … Faces are highly revealing, exposing every pore, wrinkle and the tiniest negligible blemish, and the iconic mask comes with better lifelike texture. However, there is the occasional instance of softness and some very mild aliasing along the sharpest edges.” —High-Def Digest.

➢ “Universal’s Blu-ray presentation of the film offers a mostly satisfying high definition experience. The film was shot digitally, which for me goes against the aesthetic and continuity of the original, which was and is such a solid film-based experience. However, nothing is compromised with the new film’s presentation as it’s first rate. Deep, inky black levels are complimented by impressive shadow detail, despite a minor lack of depth due to the format it was shot on.” — The Digital Bits.

Alpha

➢ “The image is typically Sony, a gorgeous, complex presentation that showcases the source material with striking detail, including deep layers of dirt and grime caked onto faces and clothes, the intimate details of largely unblemished terrain, fine stone work, and animal furs. The movie can look a little artificial and flat in more effects-heavy shots.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “A largely stunning 1080p/AVC-encoded high definition video presentation framed in the movie’s original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.4:1 widescreen. With such lavish, spectacular cinematography, the film really would have looked special in full 4K, but this looks suitably tremendous nonetheless, delivering beautiful panoramic vistas, and close-up nuances with equal aplomb.” — AVForums.

● Also new are Goosebumps 2 and Frog Dreaming and re-issues of Cat People (1982), The Serpent and the Rainbow and The Killers.

Ralph Breaks the Internet will be released in NZ on Blu-ray and 4K-UHD on March 27 — a month later than the US.

Extras will reveal how Walt Disney Animation Studios created the film’s vibrant version of the Internet (from comical cat videos to the intense online game Slaughter Race to shady characters on the Dark Net), Easter eggs and deleted scenes.

Here’s the full list:

How We Broke the Internet – Take a front-row seat as the team reveals the inspirations for the story and what it took to bring it to the screen. Discover all that went into developing the characters of the film including netizens like KnowsMore as well as characters like Double Dan. See the lengths the team took to create the car chase scenes in Slaughter Race and much, much more.

Surfing for Easter Eggs – Surf the web for the near-countless Easter Eggs, inside jokes and references hidden throughout the movie.

The Music of Ralph Breaks the Internet – Take a look at the music of Ralph Breaks the Internet with appearances by Imagine Dragons, Julia Michaels, Alan Menken, Sarah Silverman and more.

Deleted Scenes:Five deleted scenes with intros from directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston. Scenes include Into the Internet, Opposites, Domestic Hell, Bubble of One and Recruiting “Grandma”.

BuzzzTube Cats – Many videos were created by the animators to fill the screens of the Internet world … and lots of them are of cats! Check out the BuzzzTube to watch this hilarious cat compilation.

Music videos: Zero by Imagine Dragons and In This Place by Julia Michaels.

Also out on Blu-ray and 4K-UHD next month will be Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (March 6).

Extras will include:

A discussion with American Ballet Theatre’s Misty Copeland about her role as the enchanting Ballerina Princess, her personal history with The Nutcracker ballet, and her inspirational and historic rise within the world of dance.

A visit to the set of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms to meet both new and reimagined characters, and discover how the Land of Sweets, Land of Snowflakes, Land of Flowers and mysterious Fourth Realm were created to such dazzling effect